SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit

For the rapid manual extraction of nucleic acids from a wide range of biological samples

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Fast and reliable extraction of nucleic acids

Manual, centrifugation-free procedures

Extraction from a wide range of sample types

Enrichment of low-abundance target cells

The SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit is an OEM business-to-business solution for fast and easy extraction of crude nucleic acids from a wide range of sample types, including swabs, pre-concentrated cells, urine, and blood. Using SpeedXtract magnetic particle technology, contaminants, and cell debris are removed to give nucleic acid extracts that are ready for use in downstream applications, such as real-time PCR or isothermal amplification of viral, bacterial, or eukaryotic DNA. The SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit is immediately available as an OEM product.

Extraction of nucleic acids is a first, crucial step for many DNA and RNA analysis methods. However, this process can be time-consuming, resource intensive, and often requires expensive laboratory equipment. The SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit is specifically designed to offer fast and reliable extraction of nucleic acids using a convenient, centrifugation-free procedure. The procedure is therefore particularly useful for point-of-need molecular testing in locations without sophisticated laboratory infrastructure (e.g., remote areas).

The SpeedXtract procedure uses powerful heat lysis to lyse cells, optimized buffers to stabilize extracted nucleic acids, and high-performance magnetic-particle technology to remove contaminants and cell debris (see figure Convenient, manual nucleic acid extraction procedure for swab and liquid samples). The efficient protocol allows extraction of nucleic acids from a swab sample in as little as 7 minutes, with only one minute of hands-on time (see table). Liquid samples can be processed in as little as 12 minutes, with only 2 minutes of hands-on time.

Key features of the SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit

Parameter

SpeedXtract nucleic acid extraction from swab samples

SpeedXtract nucleic acid extraction from liquid samples

Sample source types

Swabs or pre-concentrated cells

Liquid samples, e.g., urine or whole blood

Target nucleic acids

Bacterial, eukaryotic, and viral DNA

Bacterial, eukaryotic, and viral DNA

Preparation time per sample

Approx. 7 min (incl. 1 min hands-on time)*

Approx. 12 min (incl. 2 min hands-on time)*†

Elution volume

200–1000 µl

100–200 µl

* These data refer to a procedure using a heat lysis of 5 minutes duration; this can be extended to up to 15 minutes for enhanced lysis efficiency.† These data refer to a procedure with an analyte enrichment step prior to nucleic acid extraction; an additional wash step can be included for complex liquid samples, such as whole blood.

The SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit is ideally suited for fast and reliable extraction of nucleic acids. As the procedure is centrifugation free, it is particularly useful for point-of-need testing in locations without sophisticated laboratory infrastructure (e.g., remote areas).

The magnetic particles used in the SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit procedure effectively remove contaminants and substances that can inhibit downstream DNA analysis applications (see figure Magnetic particle separation efficiently removes contaminants). Nasal swab samples from healthy volunteers were spiked with Gram-positive bacteria and subjected to the SpeedXtract nucleic acid extraction procedure for swab samples, either including or excluding magnetic-particle based contaminant removal. The inclusion of magnetic particle-based contaminant removal resulted in shorter amplification times in an isothermal amplification assay, indicating that potential nucleic acid amplification inhibitors were successfully removed by this process.

Reproducible extraction of nucleic acids from urine

The SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit efficiently and reproducibly extracts nucleic acids from urine, which can contain high amounts of inhibitory substances, salts, and nucleases, with high variability between subjects (see figure Reproducible nucleic acid extraction from urine). Urine samples from healthy volunteers were spiked with Gram-negative bacteria and subjected to the SpeedXtract nucleic acid extraction procedure. Highly similar CT values from real-time PCR amplification demonstrate the reliability of the extraction procedure.

Reliable extraction of DNA from bacterial cells in blood

Data indicates that SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit provides reliable extraction of bacterial DNA from both low- and high-abundance cells in blood (see figure Extraction of bacterial DNA from low- and high-abundance cells in blood). Whole blood samples from 5 healthy volunteers were mixed and aliquots were spiked with Gram-positive bacteria at different concentrations. Samples were subjected to the SpeedXtract nucleic acid extraction procedure. CT values from real-time PCR amplification showed a linear relationship with bacterial concentration, demonstrating that the SpeedXtract Nucleic Acid Kit provides reliable extraction of bacterial DNA over a broad linear range. CT values of internal control (IC) DNA in the presence of SpeedXtract nucleic acid extracts were highly similar to those for IC DNA in the presence of water, indicating that the SpeedXtract nucleic acid extraction procedure successfully removed PCR inhibitors.